Pure Harlequins: fun? viable?

[Slashy McTalons]

I tend to gravitate towards low model count armies (cos I'm lazy and hate painting) with straightforward rules (Harlequins seem to fit the bill - soften up an area of the enemy army whilst hurtling forward, then gang up on it in close combat. Very few unit/weapon profiles to remember). Does anyone else play pure Harlequins? How do you find it? I wouldn't be looking to soup up as that opens a sprawling can of worms in terms of model range, storage, playstyle and rules.

Are they a) fun and b ) reasonably competitive? I'm not a super competitive player but I'm bad enough that I need an army with *some* kind of scariness to them in order to make up for my tactical blunders, so that I can at least win from time to time. I guess (a) relies heavily on (b ) cos I guess it would be no fun losing all the time with a gimped codex!

 

They seem to rely heavily on CC but only have anti-infantry CC weapons? Can they really pack enough fusion pistols to have viable anti-tank?

[Kallas]

Disclaimer: I've not played with, I've only been looking at them for the past month or so, so my thoughts may be a little off!

 

With that out of the way: Harlequins are brittle. With good Invulnerable saves on literally everything, they are surprisingly tough but they're still on T3/4+, so massed fire will still push through a lot of damage. Their speed and ability to bounce through to whatever they want to is their primary strength.

 

Troupes in Starweavers are practically a given: the innate -1 to hit them, extra wounds and toughness, speed and shelter for the Troupes seems incredibly important, plus they can absorb overwatch for your more fragile Troupes. Plus they pack dual Shuriken Cannons, which is not to be sniffed at.

 

Skyweavers seem like absolute champions. 3W, T4, innate -1 to hit, great speed. I personally think Haywire Cannons are probably the way to go with them - they give you good ranged anti-tank, without having to get point blank with Fusion Pistols, while still having decent volume into troops. Zephyrglaives also seem solid for chewing up infantry. Plus they retain Rising Crescendo, so can dive into melee, possibly lock someone in combat then just fall back/shoot/charge the next turn.

 

Shadowseers have a good discipline, with a lot of trickery potential; their -1 to wound nearby Harlequin Infantry also seems very useful, as that will help keep the expensive Players from falling too quickly to massed fire (they'll almost never be wounded on a 2+, unless the enemy has some kind of +1 to Wound). Troupe Masters are solid and their buff is worthwhile for keeping your Troupes from fulling flubbing and make decent character assassins.

 

Death Jesters also seem like a staple: reasonably cheap, can pick out characters and have good versatility for killing a variety of infantry - the Shrieker mode and their ability to choose the first model that flees can potentially be very important: a unit of Guardsmen with a single Heavy/Special weapon? Knock out that more powerful weapon!

 

Harlequin stratagem seem good, very little that's not useful. They seem fairly CP hungry, and their high cost will probably preclude them from having too many CP, which is fair enough, so careful CP expenditure will probably be needed: don't overuse the Command Reroll! There are a lot of individually powerful attacks, so there'll probably be quite a lot of instances where you may be tempted to spend for the reroll, but it might be worth more overall if you keep if for something else, like Prismatic Blur (3++ when you advance).

 

Overall, I get the impression that they're quite powerful, and most likely can be played 'pure', but must be handled with some care. Learn how to position well, I think is probably the most important thing about them! Knowing how to position your Players to completely surround a model in melee so that they can't fall back will be an incredibly useful ability.

 

That's my 0.02p, from a not-yet Harlequins player

[OrbOfAntioch]

Harlies will satisfy your criteria of fun and being somewhat competitive but I think their effectiveness heavily rely on player’s understanding of game rules and mechanics - they are very powerful if delivered correctly but extremely brittle, so there’s little room for error.

[CrystalSeer]

I've run Harlies since the book dropped, and I've lost once. That was to a Ultramarines / Guard list with Guilliman that just beat me by volume of fire.

 

They are a blast to play, but you will need a very solid understanding of deployment and game mechanics, because you can be shot up pretty easy. For context, I lost three vehicles to one knight in one shooting phase last game.

 

There is nothing like executing your plan perfectly and picking you enemy apart.